‘Social Studies’ Team Says Banning Teens’ Phones in School Would Let Them ‘Find Other Ways to Socialize’ | Video

In the age of phone addictions and looming social media bans, some Gen Zers are not so scared of the idea of stripping back their screen time. 

Cooper Klein and Jonathan Geldon, ages 21 and 20 respectively, think that growing up online has most certainly changed their lives. Whether they like it or not, social media has become an integral part of building relationships in their adolescent years. 

“It’s unfortunate, but [social media] does serve utility in my life,” Klein said Tuesday on the “Growing Up Online: Social Media’s Influence on the Next Generation of Women” panel at TheWrap’s 2024 Power Women Summit. “Social plans are made through Snapchat, and things are posted on Instagram for clubs that I’m in at school, so you need to have it for that reason and you kind of feel bound to it in that way.”

Both Klein and Geldon were subjects in documentarian Lauren Greenfield’s FX series “Social Studies,” now streaming on Hulu. The two were part of a larger sample of Los Angeles teens who agreed to participate in a social experiment in which they offered up their phones to the producers, giving the audience an intimate glimpse into how social media has shaped their childhood.

“I don’t want to be on these platforms. I shouldn’t be on these platforms, and I want a way to get off, but there is this weird hole that I think a lot of people resonate with,” Klein added of her reliance on social media as a means for communication and inclusion. “Why am I so engrossed by this? Why am I so engaged by this? And I think as each year passes for me, I’m getting better and better at distancing myself and cutting myself off of it.”

On Wednesday, Australia passed a law banning social media for children under 16. The ban will not go into effect for another year, but parents and even “Social Studies” director Greenfield said they are in full support of regulation. Geldon was more skeptical of how much regulation will actually affect phone addiction.

“I think that all starts with the facility that allows you to be on social media, which is the cell phone itself,” Geldon posed. “Because nowadays kids are getting phones in fifth grade, and despite age restrictions, I’m sure have been creative to figure out how to pass the 16-year-old age restriction on social media.” 

This reliance on social media as a means to connect was a central question in Greenfield’s FX docuseries. She reflected on a moment from filming the finale where Klein poses what may be Gen Z’s new existential question. 

“One of the things that Cooper says in Episode 5 is, ‘Will we exist if we’re not online?’” Greenfield said. “I think it’s only when there’s collective bans, like in Australia, or like in a whole school, because then they find other ways to socialize.”

Greenfield added that starting in 2025, LAUSD, the nation’s second largest public school district, will ban cell phone use during the school hours. Klein said her teenage sister’s school has already implemented the rule, and she has no complaints. Her mom in the Power Women Summit audience at the Maybourne Beverly Hills echoed this sentiment, saying it allowed her teenage daughter to have uninterrupted, face-to-face socialization with her friends at school. 

When asked if Geldon wished he had the protections of social media bans as a young teenager, he said he did. 

“I think Sydney says it in the series, but it would have been a kinder world without social media,” the 20-year-old teen help hotline volunteer said. “I think that speaks volumes about what social media facilitates and the kind of atmosphere it facilitates.”

All five episodes of FX’s “Social Studies” are available to stream on Hulu now. 

Watch the full panel below:

TheWrap’s Power Women Summit is the essential gathering of the most influential women across entertainment and media. The event aims to inspire and empower women across the landscape of their professional careers and personal lives. With the theme, “Aspire,” this year’s PWS provides one day of keynotes, panels, workshops and networking. For more information visit thewrap.com/pws. For all of TheWrap’s Power Women Summit 2024 coverage, click here.

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